You're very pedantic, but also correct. I was poking fun at the phrase "flatlander," after all, which is itself superfuckingsilly for each and all of the points you've just made. Katahdin is beautiful, and while I was born in the NW, I'll die in Maine where my child was born.

Do go check out the alpine meadows in the PNW, though. Just steer clear of Seattle/the popular parts of the Cascades and go straight from Sea-Tac up to the Olympic Peninsula and the Hoh National Rainforest, then hit the Okanagan Wilderness in north-central WA state by way of the ferry at Anacortes and the roads through the Cascades up near Bellingham. Way less populated and even more beautiful.